In 1997 he set a Guinness world record for longest saxophone note 45 minutes 47 seconds so this bit is now a running joke. As he approached a small stage in the front rows, he halted a slow ballad to hold a single note, by circular breathing, for several minutes, shaking hands with the audience along the way. Erin Baiano for The New York TimesĬurly-locked and slim-hipped, he made his customary entrance, playing and walking through the audience. The saxophonist Kenny G playing at Jazz at Lincoln Center. But as a consequence he now plays where actual jazz performers play, like the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center, where he appeared on Tuesday. In related news, the saxophonist Kenny G the regent of the smoothiverse, a man who at his height moved 15 million copies of just one album (“Breathless,” from 1992) has been selling fewer records lately. It lost ground last week when WQCD-FM, the New York radio station known as CD101.9 and the station with smooth jazz’s biggest market share in the country, went off the air, replaced at 101.9 by the rock format WRXP. It is a physical presence but an intellectual absence. For 20 years it has appealed across race and class and gender, partly because it asks so little. It is a commercial construct, a radio format more than a style of music. Being righteous about smooth jazz is much more difficult. Being righteous about what’s called traditional jazz is easy. The administrators have tagged almost every section with provisos: “Its neutrality is disputed” “needs additional citations for verification” “reads like an advertisement” may contain “unverified claims.” Have you seen the Wikipedia entry on smooth jazz lately? Probably not, but it’s a mess.

2022.09